My chat w/Jason Bateman...

Jason Bateman told me this week that while nothing is official in regards to the all-but-officially-confirmed "Arrested Development" movie, he has no doubt that when the cast of the late great FOX series reunites on the big screen, it will be something special.

"There's no doubt in my mind that it will be every bit as good as the show and probably a
whole lot better simply because of the running time," he said. "You as an audience are trapped inside a movie theater and you can appreciate the density of the writing and the minutiae of the comedy. There's no distractions, there's no phone, there's no fridge, there's no doorbell. You're in there, completely inside our world."

While Bateman is now one of the busiest actors in movies - he's been in "Hancock," "Juno," "The Kingdom," and "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium" among other films since "Arrested" left the air in 2006 - he remembers when things were different, and not that long ago.

"It goes to show you what a tough business this is." said Bateman, currently filming "Couples Retreat" with Vince Vaughn. "Every actor really is just a job away. I was circling the building before 'Arrested Development' and fortunately I got that show that happened to be watched by a lot of people that hand out jobs and it was as simple as that. Hopefully I don't screw that up and continue to pick the right things and not some of the low-hanging fruit because you can get shown the door as quickly as put through it."

I also asked Jason, who played a gay man in the short-lived series "Some of My Best Friends" (where we met the fabulous Alec Mapa!) for his thoughts on the oassage of Prop. 8. Here's what he said:

"Prop. 8 seems like a very sort of dated and homophobic proposition and I think anybody with an ounce of common sense would have voted no on that. It's not surprising that common sense stuff does not get pushed through based on the last couple terms of the executive branch. It's not surprising to me. Maybe that's why so many people with common sense feel so disenfranchised from the political process."